Sphalerite (ex Willard Wulff Collection)

Item Description

A show and eye-catching thumbnail sized display specimen from the famous locality at Picher. There are not a lot of species found in this area, but the Sphalerites remain as some of the most recognizeable specimens from the locality. This specimen comes from the collection of Willard W. Wulff (1904-1998) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a prominent figure and collector of Colorado minerals. Wulff was one of the founding members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society in 1936. You can read Willard's bio on the Mineralogical Record website here ( http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1528 ). The piece was personally collected by Wulff himself. A pair of sharp, semi-lustrous, deep reddish brown twinned crystals of Sphalerite are associated with smaller, gemmy reddish Sphalerites and pearly, curved Dolomite rhombs on matrix. The largest Sphalerite measures 1.5 cm across, but the best quality crystals are actually some of the smaller ones with regard to luster and gemminess. Great quality as the two main Sphalerites are undamaged and beautifully sitting on matrix. Despite the fact that there was a lot of these pieces on the market years ago, very few of them are out there now.